BootStrapMe Greatest Hits (Vol. 1)

Filed in archive Bootstrapper Profile on December 29, 2007

Fellow blogger and marketing guru Tom Pick of WebMarketCentral sent an e-mail recently requesting suggestions for a "Best of 2007" series.

The correspondence started me thinking about the many "Greatest Hits" so-to-speak here at Bootstrapme since I started blogging in June 2006.

Over the next few posts we'll take a trip down memory lane with what I think may be the best of the last year and a half of Bootstrapme.com.

Great bootstrapper profiles

Over the last year and a half we've talked to numerous successful bootstrappers and those in the process of bootstrapping a successful business. Here are the high points:

• Tony Tran, Nick Leung and Dennis Ngin started their custom fraternity apparel company One Greek Store with credit cards and a production facility including a professional sewing machine operated out of their dorm room.
• Haika Powell and Jed Rapoport used money from the sale of a former business to bootstrap the start of specialty bake shop centered around Haika's baking talents and a niche for for natural and organic products.
• Michelle Prestileo, a.k.a. Shell Presto at insomn.com used a bootstrapping in a different way, leveraging a fan website she created while in high school to bring her drawings and writing to a much larger audience than would ever have been possible otherwise.
• Romanian entrepreneur Cristian Dorobantescu started his web design and software business energybyte.com with clients referred to him from a previous employer than used money from that job to invest and grow his company.
• Shelli Styles built a business marketing beaded bra straps from South America created by her husband's relatives as a way to help lift them out of poverty and used volunteer sales people passionate about her business and product to get the merchandise into stores.
• Denise Aday launched Aday VA Solutions, a virtual assistant service, out of her home office using her years of experience in bookkeeping, office management and editorial support and some money made from working overtime and a layoff package from her former job.
• Andrew S. Field, a Montana-based entrepreneur, used revenue from a successful printing business to bootstrap a unique on line printing service serving a special customer needs, PrintingForLess.com.
• Cara O'Callaghan, a Santa Barbara wife and mother, used a $4,000 investment, prototypes created by her graphic designer husband and a simple e-commerce site to launch a brand of maternity T-shirts called Preggers 'n Proud.

Read more in our bootstrap profile section at BootStrapMe.com.